Jim Harbaugh is back in the NFL after the LA Chargers confirmed they had hired the former San Francisco 49ers boss as their new head coach.
Harbaugh returns to the professional ranks after a nine-year stint in charge at the University of Michigan, which ended with a perfect 15-0 record last season as the Wolverines were crowned as the 2023 national champions.
Prior to that the 60-year-old spent four years with the 49ers, earning NFL Coach of the Year honours in 2011 and taking them to three straight NFC Championship games, including a trip to Super Bowl XLVII, in which his brother’s Baltimore Ravens team pipped them to the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Speaking after his appointment was confirmed by the Chargers, Harbaugh offered some insight into how he plans to re-energise a franchise that has failed to live up to its potential in recent years, winning just one play-off game since the team moved from San Diego in 2017.
"The only job you start at the top is digging a hole, so we know we've got to earn our way,” Harbaugh said. “Be better today than yesterday. Be better tomorrow than today. My priorities are faith, family and football, and we are going to attack each with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. This organization is putting in the work — investing capital, building infrastructure and doing everything within its power to win. Great effort equals great results, and we're just getting started."
Harbaugh spent 15 years as a quarterback in the NFL between 1987 and 2001, including two seasons with the Chargers between 1999 and 2000. He replaces Brandon Staley, who was fired in December after almost three years in the job, with the LA sitting on a 5-9 record and on their way to a fourth-placed finish in the AFC West.
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